Indiana Hoosiers head coach Tom Crean coaches against the Northwestern Wildcats during the second half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. / David Banks, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Kravitz, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Kravitz, USA TODAY Sports

Tom Crean doesn't play one-on-one basketball against brother-in-law Jim Harbaugh anymore. He's had his fill of elbows, knees and shoulders.

"I have no interest in doing that anymore," said Crean, whose Indiana Hoosiers play Penn State at Assembly Hall Wednesday. "Guarding him, it's what I imagine it was like to guard Charles Barkley. Nobody's going to keep him from going where he wants to go. He just overpowers you. Jim had that Tim Tebow quarterback strength before there was a Tebow."

Golf?

Crean doesn't play the game anymore, which is a good thing, because he has no interest in going out on the course and getting his brains beat in by the Harbaugh boys.

Between now and Super Bowl Sunday, there will be approximately 3,649 stories written about the Brothers Harbaugh, and for good reason. What they've done is both rare and extraordinary. Two brothers, two kids who shared a bedroom, born 15 months apart, facing one another in a Super Bowl.

The Harbaughs themselves would rather talk about any story line other than the sibling rivalry, and they will try to minimize the talk in the days and weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.

Speaking Monday, Jim, the 49ers head coach, said playing against his brother was "a blessing and a curse. A blessing because that is my brother's team. The curse part would be that the talk of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl and that takes away from the players that are in the game. I just feel like the fighters are first."

Speaking Monday, John, the Ravens head coach, said the Jim-and-John angle isn't exactly "Roosevelt and Churchill," adding, "We're not that interesting. There is nothing more to learn. It's just like any other family. We get it; it's really cool and it's exciting and all that. It's really about the players."

Yeah, well, nice try.

But we're telling you now, come Media Day, every columnist in the Western World will be doing the sibling rivalry angle.

Crean knows, this won't be the last time he's asked about the Brothers Harbaugh.

Come Super Sunday, TV will show the Harbaugh parents more often than ESPN showed A.J. McCarron's comely girlfriend.

"I hope they can sit back and enjoy it," said Crean, who will be in New Orleans Feb. 3, along with his family. "Knowing the both of them, they'll do everything that's asked and they'll worry about everybody but themselves.

"My guess is they'll be asked to watch (the game) publicly, but that won't be their choice. They'll probably want to do what they did (two Thanksgiving ago, when Harbaugh faced Harbaugh). That game, they sat and watched in the owner's office with security keeping people out.

"When they watch football, it's not like, 'Let's go to Buffalo Wild Wings and enjoy the game.' It's a very taxing experience. When those two watch a game, mentally, it's like a marathon for them. Jack is quieter; Jackie's more outgoing. But when they watch a game, they're both very intense."

The brothers are different in subtle ways -- Jim, the former Colts quarterback, seems slightly crazier than John -- but they showed similar fortitude in mid-season. Jim changed quarterbacks, switched from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick. John fired long-time offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and promoted former Colts head coach Jim Caldwell.

Both were targeted for criticism.

Both are in the Super Bowl.

"They are so in tune with what their teams need," Crean said. "With a coach, you ask, 'Can he trust his instincts and does he have the pulse of his team?' and both Jim and John do a phenomenal job with that. I don't think they'll ever be swayed by public opinion or media opinion or player opinion. They'll listen, but they know when to cut it off and make a decision."

For all the subtle differences between the two men, the one great similarity is their competitiveness. You'll hear a million stories about it this week.

How they compete at everything, including who can blow the biggest bubbles or eat the most burgers.

How Jim could throw a football over a tree in the family's front yard, how John could not, and how it shaped their destinies.

How Jim was the natural athlete who played big-time college football and in the NFL; how John was the more cerebral one, taking a different path after his football-playing dreams never quite took shape.

How their friendly rivalry has brought them to this moment Feb. 3 in New Orleans.

"Jim and John bring out the best in each other's competitive nature," Crean said. "That's why it's going to be an intense week. It's about the team, but they'll know what's at stake and they'll coach accordingly."

They can downplay it all they want, and Lord knows they're going to try. But the media will not let them, at least not early in the week, when writing about the Harbaugh's will become a cottage industry.